A Web service is a universal mechanism that connects apps with on premise data sources inside organizations as well as with websites on the Internet.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of really useful data sources available for anything from weather, file storage, videos, pictures, marketing services, etc.  Apps can retrieve data, show it and if needed update updated it.

For databases you have to upload data. With Web Services it is different. To make it work you need to create a “connector” that will describe how to retrieve data and possible update it. The “connector” is an XML file.   For example of a connector please download several samples from “data source” dialogue.

Snappii staff has created many connectors that can readily be used in your applications.  This list of connectors will continue to grow.

In brackets there are some URLs with examples.

Please ensure you have chosen a corresponding OAuth  Consumer type after connectors upload in the DataSource dialog.

– Twitter  (https://www.Snappii.com/static/tmp/Twitter.xml)

– Salesforce (https://www.Snappii.com/static/tmp/salesforce_leads_full_doc.xml)

– Google API  (https://www.Snappii.com/static/tmp/Blogger_API.xml)

– Vimeo  (https://www.Snappii.com/static/tmp/Vimeo.xml)

– LinkedIn

– Instagram

– Facebook

– etc

Please review an example of SalesForce connectors with detailed description using the link below.   https://www.Snappii.com/static/tmp/salesforce_leads_full_doc.xml

OAuth.

OAuth is an open standard for authorization. OAuth provides a method for clients to access server resources on behalf of a resource owner (such as a different client or an end-user). It also provides a process for end-users to authorize third-party access to their server resources without sharing their credentials (typically, a username and password pair), using user-agent redirections.

You can get more info about oAuth here : http://oauth.net/

To create an app using SalesForce connectors please do the following:

– open DataSource dialog in the editor

– select Web services

– OAuth Mode: My account or User’s account. Using  “My Account” option customers will not need to enter credentials as they will get data by using app creator’s account

In the “User’s Account” case they will have an access to data only after entering their own credentials.

– OAuth Consumer: choose SalesForce from the list (the list will be constantly growing)

– upload the connector in the DataSource menu using “Upload XML Connector” button

– click on “Generate New Token” button, it will redirect you to SalesForce website to sign in to complete the authentication process.

– test Select operations to know exactly if your connector was correctly created or not

– if the operation is successful, add Advanced List/Form and bind fields in the tab/button settings the same as you do with simple Excel spreadsheets (if no rows of data returned then make sure your connector is properly made)

– for each connector use a separate Advanced List/Form tab/button

Please ensure you have chosen a proper mode for the authentication (My or User’s Account)

You can categorize your data using data sources or other web services as categories. The following variants are possible in category mode: Web Service + Spreadsheet, Spreadsheet + Web Service, Web Service + Web Service.

To know how the web service works and looks in the app please take a look at the demo app we created here   http://MobileOnlineApps.com/demo_31734

It includes SalesForce leads, users, twitter, message board, cases, contacts, events and etc. Using the SalesForce connector as the pattern you can create your own connectors. Also find even more useful web services for your apps on www.apigee.com

For more details contact Snappii support team.

Posted in: Web Services

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